POSTED: April 26th 2011
NewsUpdate
London 2012 tickets deadline extended after late pressure on purchase website
KEIR RADNEDGE / Sports Features Communications
LONDON: The deadline ending the first wave of London 2012 ticket sales was extended from midnight until one in the morning after the weight of last-minute purchases brought the website to a virtual standstill.
The six-week window for the 6.6m public tickets extended across the full range of 650 sessions across 26 sports and 17 days with prospective purchasers limited to a maximum of 20 events each. The most popular events, including the men's 100m final, had a limit of four tickets per person.
Before sales began on March 15, more than 2.5m people had registered an interest but thousands appeared to ignore warnings not to leave their purchase process until the last minute, especially after enormous demand over the holiday weekend.
A ballot will be used to sort applications for oversubscribed events such as the opening and closing ceremonies, the velodrome, the pool, athletics track as well well as possibly the canoe slalom at the newly-opened Broxbourne whitewater course.
LOCOG ceo Paul Deighton said: "We have seen really strong demand for the ceremonies, athletics, swimming, rowing and track cycling, which is what we expected. But there has also been heavy demand for finals for events with particular fan bases.
"Things like canoe slalom, archery and badminton have been high. Rhythmic gymnastics is very popular and I think a lot of gymnastics and ballet clubs have said, 'Let's take the class and go and see world-class performers as we might not get another chance.'"
Organisers hoped that the initial sales would generate 80pc of the total ticket revenue target of £500m but they conceded this might not be certain until after further rounds of sales later this year. Some 8.8m tickets are 'alive' with 6.6m on public sale.
One of the major ticket spheres is football with more than 1m tickets in both men's and women's competitions just weeks after Euro 2012 and while the row continues over whether Britain will be able to field a team comprising players from all the home nations.
Payment will be taken between 10 May and 10 June for successful ticket applications. Applicants will learn they have some tickets when the money is taken from their accounts - before the formal notification of ticket confirmations in late June.
Prices range between £20 to £2,012 and organisers have been criticised by various public rights groups over the insistence on accepting only Visa cards for purchases. Visa is an Olympic sponsor.
Keywords · London 2012 · tickets
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